To the Editor

If Republican challengers follow their usual playbook, Russ Feingold can expect to be attacked as a “tax and spend liberal” who is out of touch with the common sense of voters.

I looked into the “Fiscal Responsibility” section of Senator Feingold’s website (www.RussFeingold.org) and found details of his “Control Spending Now Act,” along with details of his efforts to enforce budget discipline, to balance the nation’s books, to cut wasteful spending, and to make current spending smarter.

Everything there sounds like common sense to me but it is hard to evaluate. It’s even harder for an average citizen to say, “Yes, this is the way we should go” on a wide range of complex issues. For some, it’s just easier to say, “I’m really angry at Washington politicians, so let’s throw all the bums out and get some new people in there,” even if a particular incumbent is not the cause of the problem.

To whip up that kind of anger and get people to lash out, demagogues trample the truth. They hope that average citizens are too uninformed and too mentally lazy to resist their salesmanship.

Somewhere between the dupes of the demagogues and the political policy experts are the majority of average citizens who elected both Ronald Regan and Barack Obama. They evaluate a bit of policy and a bit of gut feeling to decide who will best handle the problems that will come up during the next term of office.

Voters want to know, “Does the candidate advocate for issues and programs that match up with my values? Does he communicate and connect with people? Does the person act on his true beliefs and therefore can I trust him?” Finally, people want to be able to identify with the candidate so they can vote for him.

Actually, I don’t agree with Senator Feingold’s idea to give presidents the line item veto. That would be OK if a president were working in the public interest, but that is not always the case. On the other hand, I do agree with Feingold on PAYGO, where any public spending must be paid for in the present so as not to increase the deficit. There is no better example of common sense than that.

It’s not that I think Feingold is perfect, but he represents my values for the most part. I have seen him connect well with people and I trust him to act for the people in general, independent of the special interests that are crippling Washington right now.

I am proud to help Senator Feingold with his campaign to represent all the people of Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.

Jerome Schlei

Cumberland

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